We continue our short sermon series on the Five Solas. This week, we focus on the fact that we are saved in Christ alone through faith alone. In Ephesians 2, Paul begins by describing our condition and lives before Christ. He does not paint a pretty picture of who we are – spiritually dead and deserving of God’s wrath. It is a stark reminder of what we are saved from – our sins. Because of God’s great love, mercy, and kindness to us, he accomplished salvation for us in Christ. All these blessings that God gives is only possible in Christ. He made us alive in Christ, raised us up with him and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. We are no longer enslaved, because we are united to the one who freed us. All that belongs to Christ now belongs to us – in Christ alone. We receive all these blessings through faith alone in Christ alone. These blessings are not given to us via all the good works that we have done. The means by which God gives us his grace in Christ is through our faith alone. This means that we cannot boast about our works that earned us our salvation. However, this faith alone in Christ is never alone – we are God’s handiwork from start to finish. We are transformed and renewed in Christ, and therefore our lives should have clear indication of that. Once we know and embrace Christ through our faith, it changes us, changes our hearts and changes we who are. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

500 years ago, it was thought that the Scriptures were too complicated for lay people. All we need to receive grace from God is to attend Mass at the local church. It did not even matter that we would not have been able to understand what was said during Mass, as long as we are a part of it, then we would receive God’s grace. Therefore, through this sort of thinking, the teaching of the church and the Scriptures themselves are put on equal grounds. However, it is not the case today because of the Reformation. Scriptures are the very words of God, and what is remarkable is that we are able to understand Scriptures. As the people of God, we are the creature of the Word. We have been brought to life by God’s word. Because of that, God’s word must be central in all that we do as God’s people, as Scripture alone is our final inerrant authority in all areas of our Christian life and faith. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

In Romans 13, Paul continues his call for Christians to live a life of love towards others. He focuses on how Christians are to relate to the governing authorities. We are to submit to them as they are agents of God’s justice in our world. Through governing authorities, God restrains sin in our society and therefore creates a society in which there is order and justice. That is why Christians should submit to governing authorities, because in doing so, we are actually loving our neighbours by fostering a peaceful and orderly culture. However, we only submit so far as what they are promoting is right in the eyes of God. We love others by submitting to the governing authorities, but we cannot submit when it violates God’s commands. Love is the fulfilment of all of God’s laws. At the heart of all of God’s commands, particularly the 10 commands, is love for others. Love should be central in all our relationships and should characterise our lives as Christians. The end of this age is coming with each passing day. Therefore, let us live in the light, as God’s people with a life of love. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

Romans 12 is a shift in Paul’s letter. After 11 chapters of declaring God’s redemption of his people, Paul shifts the focus to what our response should be towards God’s amazing mercy. In light of all that God has done for us, the only true and proper worship of God involves us offering our bodies as a living sacrifice for God. It is the totality of our lives that we give in our worship to God. Our worship begins with the renewal of our minds. We do not conform to the world, rather we conform to the mind of God. We begin to see the world as God sees the world. Our worship also involves us using our gifts to serve others within the body of Christ. We must think of ourselves as members of the same body. We all play different, but important roles within the body of Christ. Therefore, we use whatever gifts God has given us to serve one another. That is how we love one another in our worship of God. Our worship changes the way we relate to others. Love becomes the primary way we relate, both within the body of Christ and to those outside the church. We pray, serve, share, welcome, honour one another – all out of love for them. Even for those who are not Christians, we love them by not retaliating, living in peace, and leaving vengeance up to God. Like Christ, we overcome evil with good. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

God is the grand artist of history, and the world is his canvas. He is painting his story of salvation in this world. Paul gives us a further glimpse of what this completed canvas will look like in Romans 9 – 11. We have learned that God is completely sovereign in salvation and that the Israelites themselves rejected Christ. Does this mean that God has rejected the Israelites? Of course not! Paul uses himself and Elijah as examples of God’s enduring faithfulness. All hope is not lost because all hope is in God. There is still a remnant chosen by God. Those of us who are Gentiles are grafted into the covenant community. Therefore, we should not be arrogant about the blessings we received when it is all God’s initiative and work. Our response should be one of overwhelming gratitude. Even though the Israelites have not embraced Christ as their saviour as this point in history, their hardening will not be forever. Once the full number of Gentiles have been saved, God will once again bring the Israelites back to himself. We may not fully understand why certain things happen in our lives. We may not understand why God did things the way he did. However, we are just one small part of a very large canvas in God’s plan of salvation. No matter what happens, we know that we play a part in glorifying the God of all, whom we know loves us and cares for us in Christ. To God be the glory forever! Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

The true offspring of Abraham is the children of promise, chosen freely by God and not based on human effort or desire. Because of this, God’s righteousness can only be obtained by faith alone in Christ alone, which the Gentiles did but the Israelites did not. The Israelites sought to establish their own righteousness, and therefore did not gain God’s righteousness through Christ. That is why Christ is a stumbling block to them, without realizing that Christ is the culmination of the law. This Gospel message of Christ is actually near and available to everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike. All one has to do to obtain the righteousness of God (i.e. salvation) is to believe that Jesus is Lord. Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. This message is meant to be proclaimed, and the Israelites themselves have heard this message, but yet they rejected it. They thought they knew God through all the practices and rituals that they have heard, but yet rejected the one person to whom all these things pointed to. There is a lesson for us today.  Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

Paul is in anguish for his fellow Israelites. Even though they had all the blessings and privileges of receiving God’s revelation in the Old Testament, they did not have faith in Christ. There are scores of God’s promises in the OT for the Israelites. Does that mean that God’s word and promises failed? Not at all! God’s promises were never based upon physical descent nor our own works. Right from the beginning, it has always been God’s own sovereign grace towards those that he chose. God is God and he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Our salvation is based entirely on God’s electing grace upon us. That does not mean that God is unjust – we are all sinful, deserving only God’s wrath (as Paul mentioned in 1:18 onwards). God would have been completely just in leaving us in our sins but yet in his sheer grace, he has elected some to be saved. That is why the golden chain of salvation is an unbreakable chain, because right from the start to the end, it is God and God alone who saved us. Even though the Israelites had all the blessings of the law and God’s revelation in the OT, they pursued righteousness by obedience to the law and not by faith. However, as we have seen, righteousness can only come by faith alone in Christ alone, because of God’s sovereign grace. It is only through justification by faith alone that God retains all glory for himself.  Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

This is Easter week! All across the globe, Christians from across different denominations will prepare their hearts to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. God the Father loved us and gave us his Son in Christ, to rescue and redeem us from the curse of sin, by the power of his Spirit. That is the glorious news that is worth remembering and celebrating! Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that “God made him [Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This week is a good opportunity to reflect what Christ went through for our sake. The one who was truly innocent and sinless, was unjustly trialled, flogged, mocked, and finally crucified for our sins. However, that is not the end of the story. After being buried in a tomb, Jesus rose again powerfully three days later. He is risen! We do not worship a dead God, but one who has been exalted to the heavens. We exist because Christ has been raised from the dead. We praise because Christ has rescued us from the curse of sin. We worship because Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. We love because God first loved us in Christ. This is what Easter is all about – The God of all creation has so loved us in Christ, that he sent Jesus Christ, holy and blameless, to take upon himself all of our sins, and conquering death by his resurrection from the dead by the power of God’s Spirit. That is a God worthy of our worship. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang